LibriVox recording of Jill the Reckless by P. G. Wodehouse. Read by Don W. Jenkins.

Jill had money, Jill was engaged to be married to Sir Derek Underhill. Suddenly Jill becomes penniless, and she is no longer engaged. With a smile, in which there is just a tinge of recklessness, she refuses to be beaten and turns to face the world. Instead she went to New York and became a member of the chorus of "The Rose of America," and Mr. Wodehouse is enabled to lift the curtain of the musical comedy world.

There is laughter and drama in _Jill the Reckless_, and the action never flags from the moment that Freddie Rooke confesses that he has had a hectic night, down to the point where Wally says briefly "Let 'em," which is page 313. The heroine here, Jill Mariner, is a young woman from the lower end of the upper class. We follow her through financial disaster, a broken engagement, an awkward stay with some grasping relatives, employment as a chorus girl, and of course, the finding of true love. Other characters include wealthy Drone Freddie Rooke and writer Wally Mason, her childhood friends; her financially inept uncle Major Christopher Selby; her fiancée at the beginning of the book, the M.P Derek Underhill, and his domineering mother, Lady Underhill; Jill's unpleasant relatives, Elmer and Julia Mariner; more Drones Club members, various chorus girls, composers and other theatrical types, and, of course, miscellaneous servants. (Introduction from Gutenberg and Wikipedia)

For further information, including links to online text, reader information, RSS feeds, CD cover or other formats (if available), please go to the LibriVox catalog page for this recording.

For more free audio books or to become a volunteer reader, visit LibriVox.org.


This audio is part of the collection: The LibriVox Free Audiobook Collection
It also belongs to collections: Audio Books & Poetry; Community Audio

Artist/Composer: P.G. Wodehouse
Date: 2010-12-22
Source: Librivox recording of a public-domain text
Keywords: librivox; audiobook; fiction; wodehouse

Creative Commons license: Public Domain Mark 1.0

Individual Files

Write a review
Downloaded 4,964 times Reviews
Average Rating:

Reviewer: mikezane - - March 17, 2011
Subject: Good story
Jill is engaged to a man of means, but when the family fortune is lost through the stupidity of her uncle, her fiance dumps her. Granted it is a coincidence, he dumps her for a different reason, but the rest of the world doesn't believe him, and decides to cut him dead. Meanwhile Jill, feeling the need to earn her way, decides to pursue an acting career in America.

Derek feels the pinch of being cut by his peers and decides to find Jill and reconcile, but alas, the reckless Jill has already begun to find success in the acting world, largely thanks to her new old friend Wally who has his OWN reason for wanting Jill to stay with the acting group.

The reading is fine. The story is more sweet than funny, not as laugh out loud as the standard Wodehouse book, but I liked it anyways. Enjoy!